An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
1–10 of 508 posts
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#2These feel like welcome changes. Don't think it addresses all the past concerns.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#3I'm not always a fan of Apple's decisions, but short of pulling AirTags off the shelves and scrapping the product entirely, they've gone far beyond any of their competition (Tile) with this stuff.
Ultimately, maybe we're better off just losing things sometimes.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#4I get an alert every time I ride my wife’s bicycle. It would be nice to be able to mark her tags as ok to be near me.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#5"We plan to update our unwanted tracking alert system to notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be traveling with them."
How does this work if one doesn't own an iPhone?
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#6I'm not always a fan of Apple's decisions, but short of pulling AirTags off the shelves and scrapping the product entirely, they've gone far beyond any of their competition (Tile) with this stuff. Ultimately, maybe we're better off just losing things sometimes.
Let’s see how hard it is to neuter the sound generation within the AirTag itself. If it’s silent itself, an Android or no-device trackee is vulnerable.
There is not much tech that lacks unpreventable malicious use. Needs to be expected for pretty much anything.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#7I'm sure they're frustrated that people keep using AirTags as tracking devices rather than local thing-finders, but I think there are good reasons for that.
Local trackers have been around for a long time. I had a "TV remote finder" years ago that you'd stick to a TV remote (or keys), and it would beep when activated by a second device. More recently, Tiles work pretty well, assuming you don't need direction finding. Personally I don't regularly lose anything large enough to benefit from an AirTag. I need it for things like individual AirPods.
But a small device with a worldwide range and no subscription fee that I can attach to a car or suitcase? That's a novel capability. I have one in both cars and my electric skateboard.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#8"We plan to update our unwanted tracking alert system to notify users earlier that an unknown AirTag or Find My network accessory may be traveling with them." How does this work if one doesn't own an iPhone?
There is an Android app which allows Android users to see the same notifications.
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#9> In an upcoming software update, every user setting up their AirTag for the first time will see a message that clearly states that AirTag is meant to track their own belongings, that using AirTag to track people without consent is a crime in many regions around the world
That really should do it. I mean, in the unlikely event that a message to first time users doesn't solve the problem of people being stalked using AirTags, go ahead and keep working on the other updates. Belt and suspenders. But my guess is, it won't be necessary.
They should consider adding a message for iPhone users to tell their friends with Android phones that they "should be really careful not to get tracked by AirTags, because there's no way they'd know about it".
/s
Re: An update on AirTag and unwanted tracking
#10I get an alert every time I ride my wife’s bicycle. It would be nice to be able to mark her tags as ok to be near me.
Being able to share AirTags via a family iCloud account seems to be a pretty commonly requested feature. It does seem a little silly that I can track every device attached to the account but not AirTags.